You beat me by seconds
by coffeestainedwriter
Summary: Just a collection of short Faberry drabbles. set in my own little AU, all of them are connected, telling little stories of their relationship. Latest Chapter: Of all the scenarios Rachel had imagined happening at her wedding, being stabbed wasn't one of them.
1. You beat me by seconds

Seven years

They have been together for seven magical, wonderful years. They had made it through their senior year, through the Finn drama and the whole 'attending different universities' thing, and here they were, in the middle of time square, on the same steps that the new directions had sat so many years ago. Eating a quick lunch before Rachel had to return to the theater for rehearsal.

Seven years they had been each others one and only.

All that time leading towards this one moment.

She glanced at Quinn, who was biting her lip and looking nervous.

"Quinn Fabray" Rachel said, taking in a deep shaky breath, standing up from her spot and kneeling on the steps in front of a startled Quinn "Will you- will you marry me"

She could see the emotions swirling around in Quinns eyes as her lips formed the beginnings of countless words

Rachel knew that this probably wasn't the romantic proposal Quinn had always dreamed of, there were no rose petals, or candles, or a string quartet playing softly in the background.

she didn't even have a ring to give her.

But, something just felt…right about this moment.

A few strangers slowed down to stare at the two women, but they payed them no attention.

Quinn stared straight into Rachels eyes, her hands tightening their grip on Quinns as they just. . Stared for a few minutes.

Quinn could see a future with Rachel, God she could see it so clearly.

The moment They would stand in a beautifully decorated church and say their own vowels to each other, The way her heart would flutter the moment Rachel says 'I do'. How, when they return from their honeymoon, Quinn would pick Rachel up bridal style and carry her over their threshold.

They already owned a beautiful loft together a few streets away, but now it would be filled with pictures from their wedding and honeymoon and, maybe, kids? Two little boys? Quinn always had a fondness for the name Cedric and Rachel's always going on about how she just had to name one of her kids after her 'best gays'.

"Q-Quinn?" Rachel asked in a shaky voice, snapping Quinn out of her day dream.

Quinn looked down at their entwined hands, turning her gaze to her ring finger before looking back into Rachel beautiful brown eyes.

She looked confident, as always, but Quinn was able to the doubt churning beneath the surface.

Smiling, she leaned forward to place a soft, sweet kiss on the tip of Rachel adorable nose before pressing their foreheads together.

She untangled one of her hands from Rachels grasp and reached into her bag, pulling out a small, velvet box.

"you beat me by seconds"

* * *

><p><strong>Yeah, really short drabble I did for a prompt on tumblr, I was thinking of doing a whole bunch of short drabbles for this but I'm not sure.<strong>


	2. Letters

_**Letters**_

Quinn tapped the pen insistently on the desk, struggling to find _just_ the right words to write her girlfriend of eight months, who was currently studying in New York.

_"I don't understand" Quinn stated "why bother with writting letters, we can text, call, skype, and send emails"_

_"Think about the romantic aspect of it" Rachel smiled as she entwined their fingers, bring them up to rest below her collarbone. "just imagine, me, coming home from a long day at NYADA, tired, maybe a bit sad because I'm lonely without you their to hold me._

_"And then what's this I see!" she gestured, throwing their hands in the air "a letter on the coffee table from my sweet, darling girlfriend"_

_"I can see the words she carefully wrote down, the places where she pressed hard with the pen, smugged the ink a little bit and maybe catch a hint of your perfume!" She brought Quinns hands down to her mouth and placed soft, butterfly kisses on the knuckles_

_"sure we'd still skype and text constantly, but this would be different, this would be our souls on paper, what we say when it's just the two of us late at night… on paper"_

_Quinn looked down, fighting a smile as she looked into her girlfriends hopeful eyes_

_"you're not going to be lonely Rach" She pressed their foreheads together, untangling their hands and wrapping them around Rachels waist "you'll have Kurt"_

_"that's not the same and you know it" Rachel huffed, curling her arms around Quinns neck "please?"_

_and how was Quinn suppose to say no to that? _

_"You had me at the romantic aspect"_

scrunching up her latest attempt, Quinn huffed in frustration, it just wasn't coming out right! she pulled out another piece of paper and wrote

_ Dear Rachel_

No

**To my **_dear_**est** _Rachel_

_Distance is _

No, that just sounds silly!

**To my** dear**est** rachel

Distance is

Growling in frustration. she scribbled all over the now useless paper and let it fly of the desk, joining the rest of her failed attempts.

_I swear, writing my essay was easier than this!_

Turning around in her chair, Quinn glared at the floor, more specifically, the papers were littering it.

Oh how they taunted her, mocking her inability to write rachel a single letter.

_Hold on_

A small smile grew on Quinns face as a brilliant plan unfolded in her mind.

Gathering all the unforgotten papers on the floor, she straightened them out, folded them neatly and stole some of her roommates yellow tissue paper, wrapping up all the letters she pressed down as hard as she could to flatten it down.

grabbing a marker she wrote a simple

_I love you_

on the tissue paper, placing a single gold star next to it_._

being careful to

Just because she couldn't find the right words, didn't mean Rachel wouldn't see the romantic aspect.


	3. The unplanned talk

_**The unplanned Talk**_

_come to the art room right now! ;)_

Rachel berry clutched the note tightly to her chest, taking a deep breath before opening the large door to, what appeared to be, the empty art classroom. she took a few cautious steps inside, the door swinging shut behind her.

"hello?" she called out, silence being the only thing that greeted her.

she took a few quick glances around the room before turning around to leave, she doesn't know _WHY _she bothered to come here, it was an unsigned note and it could have easily been another Jessie situation.

Mental berating herself she placed her hand on the door handle, only for it to opened without her consent, and a determined Quinn Fabray to enter the room.

"oh" rachel let out a startled gasp, taking a few steps back.

They locked eyes for a moment before quinn looked away, her cheeks slightly redder.

_she looks adorable_. Rachel thought to herself before she could stop it.

"Hey Rachel" Quinn said in a low voice

"Q-quinn" Rachel stumbled, her voice raising a few octaves, this was not good! was Quinn? did Quinn, like her as well? No! Rachel had promised she wouldn't let Quinn do this after the last time in the bathroom.

Poking her tongue out, Quinn licked her lower lip before turning her gaze back to Rachel. God how Rachel wishes she could touch her- _No, you're with finn, your marrying FINN!_

"did you send me this note?" she said slowly, dreading, yet hopefully for a positive answer.

"what?" her eyebrows scrunching in confusing "no I, got a note tell me to met someone here"

Quinn reached into her pocket, her eyes never leaving Rachels as she pulled out a carefully folded note.

Rachel held her, slight ripped, note up as well.

_What now? what do I say?_

"Well" Rachel started, tucking a stray curl behind her ear "if you'll excuse me, Finn is expecting me"

"Rachel I-" Quinn tried to say something, anything as Rachel moved passed her towards the closed door. she doesn't know why, but at this moment, she NEEDS to tell Rachel, confess everything!

Rachel doesn't pause as she reaches for the door handle, giving it a quick tug.

Only for it to remain closed.

"what the" she whispered, confused. she turned the handle again, but the door wouldn't budge.

She turned around to face Quinn. her heart pounding. . .with excitment? with dread? she wasn't sure.

Quinn locked her eyes with Rachel again, and took a few steps forward, so she was right in Rachels personal space.

Outside the door, Kurt and Blaine smiled to each other, it wasn't obvious what had happened between quinn and rachel a few days ago, hell, they wouldn't have noticed anything if they hadn't been in the same bathroom when it happened.

But they were, and they knew that Rachel and Quinn had been avoiding it since.

now though, they were going to talk about it.

Kurt and Blaine made sure of that!


	4. Seconds

Twelve minutes until the train reached the station. Twelve minutes until she finally, finally saw her friend for the first time in almost a month!

Rachel fidgeted in her seat as the train made it's much too slow voyage along the tracks. She knew the other passengers in this overcrowded carriage were no doubt growing irritated with her but she couldn't help it! They didn't understand that in just . . . ELEVEN minutes she'd be leaping off this train into Quinn's waiting arms, held in her warm embrace, able to bury her nose in Quinn's neck and inhale her sweet- NO!

Rachel shook her head, trying to stop that train of thought before it continued into forbidden territory. Quinn was her FRIEND! She shouldn't be think those thoughts about her . . . She was probably just lonely, yeah, just lonely! Her New York friends were great and all but they just, they weren't like Quinn . . .

Nine Minutes

Rachel watched as the landscape passed by in a blur, the Sky filled with a constant theme of swirly grey clouds, it looked like they were in for a violent storm tonight, maybe if she was lucky Quinn would like to cuddle till it's over, for the rest of the night if they fall asleep . . . In a strictly platonic way of course!

Eight minutes

Seven minutes

Six minutes

Her phone went off in her pocket.

"-"

She fumbled with the zip of her dress, apologizing as she elbowed the poor guy beside her.

"-"

Nearly throwing her phone by the violent way she removed it from her pocket, she smiled as Quinn's name flashed on the screen

_Where are you? – Quinn_

**Approaching fast. Approx. 5 minutes – Rachel **

The reply was almost instant, years of texting under the table paying off.

_Eagerly waiting, prepare to be cuddled Berry! - Quinn _

Her smiled threatened to crack her lips, a small chuckle escaping. Small bumps in the road making it difficult to type back.

Three minutes

She could see the station now, the crowd of people slowly growing from blurry figures in the distance to distinguishable features the closer they got, but she still couldn't see Quinn.

90 seconds

The conductor's voice announced the station they were approaching, unable to contain herself Rachel started bouncing in her seat.

75 seconds

The train pulled into the station, hissing as it came to a gradual stop.

53 seconds

The crowd of people wanting to get off the train was immense and terribly slow, she didn't have the patience for this!

40 seconds

Rachel took a deep breath as she squeezed out through the doors; out of one crowd and straight into another, looking around she still couldn't see Quinn. Cursing her small stature as she stood on her tippy toes and craned her neck over the heads of the crowd.

21 seconds

There! She'd recognize that hair anywhere!

16 seconds

She shoved her way through the crowd, apologize thrown over her shoulder as she made her way over to Quinn.

10 seconds

"QUINN!" Rachel shouted, waving her arm frantically in the air as Quinn turned to face Rachel, a large grin spreading across her face.

5 seconds

Rachel wiggled through the few remaining people separating her from her Qui-, no, separating her from Quinn.

2 seconds

Rachel opened her mouth to speak, her arms starting to spread out to Hug Quinn, her foot catching on a stray bag.

1 second

She slammed into Quinn, her arms wrapping around her waist as Quinn stumbled back a few steps, her face buried into Quinn's neck, vibrating with her laughter. At this angle, Rachels nose was pressed right against the crook of Quinn's neck, she took a deep breath. Convincing herself that she enjoyed this in a strictly platonic way as she tightened her grip around Quinn's waist.


	5. Unexpected

All noise in the room seemed to stop simultaneously, or maybe it was just the loud buzzing in her ears that drowned everything else out.

Everyone was staring at her, their comically shocked expressions would have been amusing, and if it weren't for the building pain in her abdomen, she probably would have laughed.

Rachel hadn't realized she had been slowly lifting her arm until her hand collided with… Her head snapped down, seeing, but not fully comprehending, the silver handle sticking out of her, a patch of red surrounded it and continuing to spread, a startling contrast against the white of her wedding dress.

Her fingers tightened around the handle, pulling it away from her person to reveal the cake knife -the metallic gleam of the blade unhindered by the coating of blood- the server had been holding.

Quinn, her wife of less than an hour, raised her arm quickly, pressing the knife back into Rachel's body. The surreal atmosphere that had invaded their party the moment that damn, clumsy server had tripped and plunged the knife into Rachel's abdomen burst like a bubble as excruciating pain invaded Rachel's every nerve, crippling her with the pain.

In her mind, it registered somewhere that the server was screaming his apologies as the people in her life moved around in a flurry of activity, whether the were actually doing something to help her, or just moving around because of the adrenaline rushing through their systems had yet to be determined.

She felt Quinn's arms wrapping around her waist and shoulders as the scene in front of her eyes changed from the mad rush of people, to the beautiful chandelier that adorned the ceiling, Rachel had fallen in love with it the moment they walked into the room -and she was positive Quinn felt the same- it was the reason they had chosen this specific room for their wedding reception.

"Rachel, c'mon Rachel, keep breathing," she could see Quinn out of the corner of her eye, but her voice seemed so far away, like that time they were at Tina's house, Rachel and Kurt were seeing who could hold their breath the longest underwater … which she still would have won, even if Blaine hadn't dived in and distracted Kurt. Quinn had been calling her name, worried as she had already been under for so long.

"Ambulance is on its way," A voice she couldn't place informed them.

"Hear that Baby, helps on the way," Rachel could feel Quinn's hands running up and down her arm in a comforting gesture, "just keep breathing for me."

Rachel shifted her head from the elegant chandelier to her wife's pain filled face, she cringed when her elbow knocked against the knife as she raised her hand to cup Quinn's cheek. There was a steady stream of tears falling from her eyes, moving her thumb Rachel rubbed them away, being careful so her thumb didn't catch on Quinn's eyeliner.

"hey," Rachel smiled softly.

Quinn snorted, "hey," her voice was shaky as a fresh wave of tears cascaded down her beautiful face, but she smiled, even if it was small, it still counted.

oh, now her eyes were watering, she was never able to stop herself when she saw Quinn cry, her beautiful, strong Quinn, her rock, while distance may have separated them for a while, Quinn had still be inadvertently helping her, just the thought of being able to see Quinn in a few days, or being able to secretly text her during class, where every single person was a copy of her, had made it all bearable.

She loved Quinn, Quinn was … Gone?

"Rach! Rachel, open your eyes please, love!" Quinn's frantic voice reached her ears, and she tried, she really tried, but as Quinn's hands tightened around her body, the pain that had been slowly intensifying increased dramatically, feeling like an exploding building compared to the small embers of pain from before, it consumed her.

As the noise around her faded again, Quinn's frantic words sounding further and further away, the feeling of Quinn's touch disappearing as Rachel's world became nothing.

All she was aware of… was pain.


End file.
